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American Prometheus Kai Bird

American Prometheus By Kai Bird

American Prometheus by Kai Bird


9,00 £
New RRP 12,99 £
Condition - Very Good
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Summary

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, published to exceptional reviews in both the US and the UK, American Prometheus is as compelling a work of biography as it is a significant work of history.

American Prometheus Summary

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird

***THE INSPIRATION FOR CHRISTOPHER NOLAN'S FORTHCOMING NEW FILM OPPENHEIMER***

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR NONFICTION

'Reads like a thriller, gripping and terrifying' Sunday Times

Physicist and polymath, as familiar with Hindu scriptures as he was with quantum mechanics, J. Robert Oppenheimer - director of the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb - was the most famous scientist of his generation. In their meticulous and riveting biography, Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin reveal a brilliant, ambitious, complex and flawed man, profoundly involved with some of the momentous events of the twentieth century.

American Prometheus Reviews

A riveting account of one of history's most essential and paradoxical figures. -- Christopher Nolan
Reads like a thriller, gripping and terrifying by turns... No more absorbing biography will, I predict, come out this year, nor, given the dangers we face, a more important one. -- John Carey * Sunday Times *
Fascinating... Enthralling... All previous works on the topic are, in the nicest possible sense, blown out of the sky by a book which is, in both the proper and metaphorical meanings, monumental. -- Mark Lawson * Esquire *
No previous biography has... matched the power, range and lucidity of Martin Sherwin and Kai Bird's Life... Its combination of meticulous scholarship and felicitous prose grasps the drama of Oppenheimer's life in all its riveting complexity. * Sunday Telegraph *
A giant among biographies, a life story that at times reads like a thriller but which is also deeply authoritative and persuasively informative.... Magisterial. * Observer *
This is a magisterial biography: a masterpiece that has taken decades to put together. -- Kathryn Hughes * Mail on Sunday *
A tremendous work of scholarship. * Financial Times *
Dazzling... Rich in incident and enigma... It wears its scholarship lightly and whisks the reader through the story at thriller-like pace. * New Statesman *
Magisterial... There have been many books on Oppenheimer... but American Prometheus is the first to attempt to explore more than a single facet... It is a portrait of the man, the times, the science, and the politics... It is a vaulting ambition, and it is amply rewarded. -- Judith Flanders * Spectator *
The definitive biography... Oppenheimer's life doesn't influence us. It haunts us. * Newsweek *
A work of voluminous scholarship and lucid insight, unifying its multifaceted portrait with a keen grasp of Oppenheimer's essential nature... It succeeds in deeply fathoming his most damaging, self-contradictory behavior. * New York Times *
A masterful account of Oppenheimer's rise and fall, set in the context of the turbulent decades of America's own transformation. It is a tour de force. * Los Angeles Times Book Review *
There have been numerous books about Oppenheimer but they can't touch this extraordinary book's impressive breadth and scope. * Miami Herald *
The first biography to give full due to Oppenheimer's extraordinary complexity... Stands as an Everest among the mountains of books on the bomb project and Oppenheimer, and is an achievement not likely to be surpassed or equaled. * Boston Globe *

About Kai Bird

Kai Bird is a contributing editor at The Nation and the author of several biographies, including The Chairman, The Color of Truth, The Good Spy and The Outlier. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a MacArthur Writing Fellowship.

Martin J. Sherwin was a Professor of History at George Mason University. His other books include A World Destroyed, winner of the Stuart L. Bernath and the American History Book prizes, and Gambling with Armageddon.

Table of Contents

1: He Received Every New Idea as Perfectly Beautiful 2: His Separate Prison 3: I Am Having a Pretty Bad Time 4: I Find Work Hard, Thank God, & Almost Pleasant 5: I Am Oppenheimer 6: Oppie 7: The Nim Nim Boys 8: In 1936 My Interests Began to Change 9: [Frank] Clipped It Out and Sent it In 10: More and More Surely 11: I'm Going to Marry a Friend of Yours, Steve 12: We Were Pulling the New Deal to the Left 13: The Coordinator of Rapid Rupture 14: The Chevalier Affair 15: He'd Become Very Patriotic 16: Too Much Secrecy 17: Oppenheimer Is Telling the Truth 18: Suicide, Motive Unknown 19: Would You Like to Adopt Her? 20: Bohr Was God, and Oppie Was His Prophet 21: The Impact of the Gadget on Civilization 22: Now We're All Sons-of-Bitches 23: Those Poor Little People 24: I Feel I Have Blood on My Hands 25: People Could Destroy New York 26: Oppie Had a Rash and Is Now Immune 27: An Intellectual Hotel 28: He Couldn't Understand Why He Did It 29: I Am Sure That Is Why She Threw Things at Him 30: He Never Let On What His Opinion Was 31: Dark Words About Oppie 32: Scientist X 33: The Beast in the Jungle 34: It Looks Pretty Bad, Doesn't It? 35: I Fear That This Whole Thing Is a Piece of Idiocy 36: A Manifestation of Hysteria 37: A Black Mark on the Escutcheon of Our Country 38: I Can Still Feel the Warm Blood on My Hands 39: It Was Really Like a Never-Never-Land 40: It Should Have Been Done the Day After Trinity Epilogue: There's Only One Robert

Additional information

GOR013176068
9781838959708
183895970X
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird
Used - Very Good
Paperback
Atlantic Books
2023-06-15
736
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - American Prometheus